The present inventive concepts relate to enterprise server solutions, and more particularly, to managing and processing data stored in solid state drive (SSD) adapters for use with enterprise servers.
Enterprise servers provide computing and storage power for the Internet, the emerging Internet of Things, and myriad business intranets and applications. To some extent, enterprise servers make possible the conveniences of modern civilization. For example, trucking and transportation logistics rely heavily on enterprise computer servers. Internet searching, social networks, and social media also depend directly on a robust enterprise server infrastructure. These are but a few of the many industries that depend on such crucial compute resources.
But traditional enterprise server implementations lack density and performance-centric storage capabilities, and have limited or no support for recent developments in solid state drives (SSDs). The industry still heavily relies on magnetic hard disk drive (HDD) implementations. Developments in the SSD field have advanced storage technologies in general, but are not easily adaptable to existing enterprise server applications without major architectural changes and large investments in infrastructure updates. Computer systems and associated peripheral enclosures support industry standard form factors for storage media, such as small form factor (SFF) 2.5 inch hard disk drives (HDDs) and large form factor (LFF) 3.5 inch HDDs.
The development of solid state drives (SSDs) as storage devices for computer systems and the potential for existing and emerging memory technologies such as dynamic random access memory (DRAM), persistent RAM (PRAM), and the like, enable new form factors for storage devices, both volatile and non-volatile. The constraints of a motor and platter mechanics inherent to HDDs can be removed. Some conventional adapters allow a device of one form factor to be used in a bay designed for another (e.g., larger) form factor, but only allow connection of a single device within the adapter. Conventional approaches for managing and processing data stored in such SSD devices lack the ability to manage and protect data across multiple disparate mixed-format and/or mixed-protocol devices. Also, there is no effective way to aggregate management information including, for example, thermal data, nor the ability to automatically adjust a storage environment in response to such aggregated data. Embodiments of the present inventive concept address these and other limitations in the prior art.